


no fear of shadows spreading where you stand

by bygoshbygolly



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28295457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bygoshbygolly/pseuds/bygoshbygolly
Summary: After Ohtori, Anthy travels. After she travels, she finds a place to stay.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2020





	no fear of shadows spreading where you stand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dabblingDilettante](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dabblingDilettante/gifts).



> I hope you like this!  
> Title from Never Quite Free by the Mountain Goats

The shop appeared one day, fully stocked and decorated. Chu-Chu's. It was an odd store, selling whatever the owner felt like. Shaved ice. Roses. Perfume. Pencil cases. Curry. Fortunes told (extra charges to have your fortune withheld). Painted eggshells. Handkerchiefs. People never knew what they would find, and it was this novelty that kept them coming back.

The owner, too, had a certain charm. She was beautiful, of course, and young, and had a talent for lively conversation. Often customers wouldn't realize until later they'd been insulted, or that, while they'd spoken with her for hours over tea, they could not recall a single personal detail about her life.

Of course, it wasn't a crime to be a private person, and after she'd stopped those boys from harassing the neighborhood high school girls, people were willing to overlook a few eccentricities. No one ever knew what she said to the boys, but the next day they'd all apologized, and there hadn't been trouble since.

The world had changed since Anthy was last in it. The loss of its prince had caused it to fracture and forced it to grow in dozens of ways. Some of them were for the better, while some of them remained to be seen.

She hadn't expected to become a shopkeeper. After leaving Ohtori, she'd traveled, wanting to see the world beyond her coffin. Several times she found her feet pointing back towards the academy, desperate for familiarity; each time she had managed to point them somewhere else instead. When she found herself craving a home, she found a small town and settled in, put down roots. Owning a shop was a way to make money (she hadn't needed money in so long, but she'd never forgotten its importance) and be a part of the community. On her own terms.

Anthy didn't think the people of the town where she'd settled would turn against a child for depriving them of something they thought they owned, but she would never be certain again. Her respectability was a shield she hoped she never would need to use.

Several years passed. Anthy trimmed her roses and stocked her store and fed the stray cats in the neighborhood. Strawberry shaved ice was her number one seller; curry shaved ice was her worst. A few of the older women asked if she had ever considered giving flower arranging lessons. There were moments she felt normal, or at least, how she imagined normal to feel.

The bell rang as the door to Chu-Chu's opened, and in stepped a handsome young woman with short pink hair.

“Good morning,” Anthy smiled.

“Good morning,” echoed the woman absently.

Anthy watched as Utena explored the store. There was a self-consciousness to her movements that hadn't been there before, and a stiffness to certain motions, but the restlessness was just as Anthy remembered. Utena picked up a teacup, glanced at it, put it down, rubbed the back of one leg with her foot, picked up the next teacup.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?” asked Anthy. She kept smiling, giving no hint as to the way her heart had been beating faster since she heard Utena's voice.

She had looked for her, of course, in her travels. Never purposefully- Anthy would never live for another person again- but she'd kept an eye out. It would be enough to know Utena was out there, even if they never met. Now Utena was here, in Anthy's store, Anthy wasn't sure how to react, or if Utena even remembered her. And so she remained cheerfully neutral, and let things play out.

“Oh, not really,” Utena replied. She laughed awkwardly. “I saw the store and felt like I had to come in, you know? I like the name, by the way, it reminds me of...” She trailed off, brow furrowed. Then she shook her head and laughed again. This time, the laughter was practiced, something she'd done over and over again to hide her real feelings. Anthy knew that kind of laughter. “Sorry. I'm always forgetting things.”

“Can I interest you in some tea?” Anthy guided her away from the delicate teacups toward the tins of fine teas she sold. She picked up a tin of oolong. “This is one of my favorites.”

Utena blushed. Anthy stifled a giggle as she took Utena's arm and led her several shelves down. “These shortbread cookies are delicious, as well.”

“Oh?” Utena was quite pink now. “Good.”

“I also have some rose petal-infused honey, if you like,” said Anthy, smiling up at her. Utena nodded. “Excellent.”

She went around the counter to total up the tea and cookies and honey. 

“Have we met before?” Utena asked. She fidgeted with the cuffs of her jacket. “You seem familiar. Maybe in a dream...?” This last remark to herself.

“A dream?” Anthy asked brightly. “Should I be flattered?”

“That's not what I- I mean, it's not that you aren't- I-” Utena stuttered. This time the pink in her face was from distress. Anthy showed her some pity.

“It's fine. You said you forget things, right?”

“Yes,” said Utena, relieved. She took out her wallet and paid.

“Here you are,” Anthy said, handing her the bag. She had quietly added the word cantarella to the names of the tea and cookies. A token, to help Utena remember. If Utena wanted to remember. “Please come again.”

Two days later, Anthy was locking up when she heard the sound of someone running.

“Himemiya! Himemiya!”

Anthy turned and smiled. One of her real smiles.

“Welcome back.”


End file.
